Society of American Graphic Artists, Winter, 2013 Mauricio Lasansky in His Studio, 1963, Courtesy of Lasansky Gallery President’S Letter Shelley Thorstensen

S A G A Z I N E

“Quetzalcoatl,” intaglio, 75.5˝ x 33.5˝, 1972, Mauricio Lasansky, courtesy Lasansky Corp Society of American Graphic Artists, winter, 2013 Mauricio Lasansky in his studio, 1963, courtesy of Lasansky Gallery President’s Letter Shelley Thorstensen

This is an invigorating and ambitious time in SAGA’s history. We are gathering momentum, looking forward to our 100th year anniversary.

In 2012 SAGA had a very successful Members Exhibit at The Old Print Shop, NYC, showing 115 members with a record amount of sales. We’re testing our chops with an on-demand catalog for that show. It’s proven to be a big job. I’m happy to say it’s nearing completion.

SAGA now has a great web presence under sagaprints.org with double our Member Portfolios pages this year. In addition, we have an active facebook page with more than 500 “likes”—people around the globe following SAGA’s activities. “Sasha,” engraving, etching, and drypoint, three plates, 24˝ x 18˝, 2012, Richie Lasansky Our Annual Spring Member’s Meeting, “From Conception to Completion” engendered much camaraderie. Held at Westbeth, NYC, members brought Society of American working proofs and described their particular process. Graphic Artists SAGAzine, Winter, 2013 The Annual Award Dinner at the National Arts Club honored past presidents, Bill Copyright © 2013, All rights reserved. Behnken and Steve Yamin for untiring devotion and work during their individual Table of Contents tenures as presidents and for continuing guidance. President’s Letter...... 2 In March, SAGA took part in the Southern Graphics Council International The Essence Within...... 3 (SGCI) Conference, the largest conference of printmakers in the country. Dissent in Printmaking...... 6 How To Mat a Print...... 11 There were 1700 conference goers. It was held in New Orleans, where we had Editor’s Note...... 13 a publisher’s table showing our Collector Prints. We had great sales, made new In Memorium...... 13 friends and reconnected with old ones. Carolyn Autry Will Barnett In addition to featuring our prints at the publisher’s table, we also gave away Antonio Frasconi pencils which were a big hit. What printmaker doesn’t want a high quality pencil Mauricio Lasansky June Wayne continued on page 10 SAGAzine, Winter 2013 The Essence Within Michelle Wilson and Richie Lasansky

On March 2, 2012, Michelle Wilson interviewed Richie Lasansky, artist, printmaker, and grandson of artist Mauricio Lasansky, a forerunner in the development of printmaking in America. One month after Richie’s interview, on April 2, 2012, his grandfather passed away.

Michelle Wilson (MW): Tell me what it RL: What’s most important to me as a was like to study with your grandfather, printmaker is being involved in the whole Mauricio Lasansky? process. In other words I would never let someone print my work for me. I have Richie Lasansky (RL): A lot of what my own press, two in fact. I make my ink I’ve learned about the studio work ethic from scratch, and I even make my own and what’s involved with being an artist frames. What this does is allow me the came from studying with my grandfather. luxury of changing my mind whenever From your own research you probably I want. I can print something anytime I know that Stanley Hayter really helped want, scrape a plate out, edition or not to spread the practice of engraving and edition. Leave extra ink on the plate or experimental intaglio, encouraging make a clean or sloppy proof and even artists to use these methods at his Atelier leave something unfinished... you get the 17 in New York City. My grandfather, point. No rules and no “right” way to do who spent time at the Atelier, had the something. So everything from cutting same approach when he taught at the the copper plate to popping a finished University of Iowa—always emphasizing piece into a frame is fun and part of the the importance of experimentation process. Sometimes I end up with a stack with process to solve creative problems of proofs and lots of work and just one in a print. In the early 70’s it seems like single un-editioned print, with drawing intaglio went in two directions: The on it, that I am willing to show as a artists who made their own work and the finished product. artists who collaborated at print houses with master printmakers who were solely My grandfather and his last assistant, Jon technicians. Fasanelli-Cawelti, also a SAGA member, taught me how to make ink. Jon and I I was taught by my grandfather that the would make ink once a year while I lived concept, process, and execution were “Self Portrait,” etching, 36˝ x 20˝, 1957, Mauricio in Iowa, and we still get together to do it inseparable in a work of art. So, in order Lasansky, courtesy Lasansky Corp when we can. A lot of commercial inks to dig deep and to realize your potential but more often, he would recommend have extenders in them and feel very as an artist, you had to be involved in looking at a specific artist whose work slippery to me when I am wiping a plate. every aspect and to constantly re-evaluate might suggest possible visual solutions. I ink my plates on a hot plate, wiping with and experiment. Obviously there is room I remember long conversations about tarlatan, and the hand-made ink seems for both approaches, depending on how the importance of the artist in society, especially well suited to this. It grips the deeply you want to be involved with how drawing was a way of thinking, and intaglio marks in a plate very well and printmaking, but for my money I prefer how crucial it is to learn to apply honest leaves no film on the plate, unless, of not to miss any part of it. criticism to your own work. course you want it. Making the ink itself is When I first moved to Iowa City in 1992, fairly straightforward—you combine At the time, he’d been working on these I lived in my grandfather’s studio for carbonized grape vine and carbonized large-scale drawings which included about a year. He would wake me up at 6 cow bone with plate oil on a hard surface collaged paper and parts of his prints. am to start work, and then I would spend and mix it with a glass muller for a half The impressive thing was seeing how the whole day sketching the pieces in his hour or so. You mix it to the consistency much they would change from day to day. African art collection while he did his of dough and then put it into a tin Watching him work was really an eye- studio work. At the end of the day we can—coffee cans are great—and let it sit opener. He wasn’t satisfied with the quick would talk about my drawings. He never for a year to cure. The only hard part is or easy answer. I’d think, “That looks talked specifically about technique but the cleanup. The vine and bone powder great,” and then he’d change it and make sometimes he would look at my work and seems to get everywhere. I find bits of it it look even better. In a way, it wasn’t just point out a passage which could become all year long as I move things around in what he said to me, but getting to watch a jumping off point for him to teach me my studio. him work that taught me so much. more about the role of an artist. He always MW: So much of your work takes the encouraged me to try new approaches to MW: I’ve read that you make your own form of intimate portraits, close-up views the same aesthetic or technical problem, ink—can you tell me about that? with only the suggestion of a surrounding

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 the drawing or print. Can I make a drawing of a person, which gets to the essence in them? Drawing has to involve more than just the lines or marks on a page. MW: The images are not confrontational; they feel very welcome in my space as a viewer. RL: I want my drawings and prints to look alive. If a piece looks dull or boring to me, it’s not done. I’m trying for more than just an accurate portrayal. I want to get beneath the surface of the drawing or print—the thing between the lines or marks that makes a piece of art compelling. I remember reading an interview with “Forty Sec ond Street” engraving, etching, and drypoint, two plates, 18˝ x 17˝, 2012, Richie Lasansky Philip Guston. He was talking about the “Clare’s Monkey,” engraving, 32˝ x 24˝, 2010, Richie Lasansky difference between objective and non- plate is an impermanent state. Could objective art and managed to turn these you talk about the plate serving you as a environment. Talk to me about definitions on their heads. He said that transitional drawing space? intimacy in your work and in regards to there could be an object to an abstract printmaking. painting, which is essentially whatever is RL: I don’t think of printmaking as an driving the artist to make the image; it has art form that makes multiples; of course RL: Let me explain it this way. I grew it does, but that’s not what I love about up in rural Maine, speaking Spanish, a purpose, and vice versa, a figurative, so called objective image can be lacking any it. I would call the work I do on a plate looking at the prints hanging on our drawing in metal, and I don’t treat it any walls, listening to my mother quote object and consequently you’re left with a very anemic piece of art. differently than drawing on paper or Lorca poems; there was no TV, and drawing on a printed proof. None of it is when I wasn’t playing in the woods all MW: It is interesting to make something transitional for me; the act itself is exactly day, my mother and I had conversations portrait-based in an art form that makes what I want to be doing and although about art and creativity. My mother is a multiples. It has almost a quality of it may lead to something else that’s not professional dancer/choreographer and Eastern religion—these prints become its sole purpose. This is something my I got to watch her creative process in the the remains of the individual, yet the grandfather taught me, and I’ve heard a studio years before I did the same with my grandfather. In other words, I had what you would call a highly imaginative childhood. I had absolutely nothing in common with other kids my age. Other people’s life experience seemed exotic, and I think it made me very interested in what makes people tick, what makes them who they are. I draw a lot of friends and family, but they are not necessarily about being accurate renderings. I am trying to make an image of what interests me about that person; sort of visual description of their character. The same applies when I am drawing someone out of my head. In order for me to stay interested, the person or animal in the drawing has to take on a personality. Take classical music, I grew up listening to it because my father is a bass player (chamber music). What makes a piece of music good? It might be the notes, how it’s played, or it might be the mood or character behind it. That’s what I’m after in art—the something behind “Waiting,” pencil on paper, 45˝ x 55˝, 2009, Richie Lasansky

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 lot of his students say that they left their studies with him with a sincere “love for the plate.” I keep all my proofs and draw on them, cut them up or leave them as is, not because I want multiples, but more so I can keep a record of my process on the plate. Sometimes I even look at my old proofs and wonder why did I keep going? As far as my technical process on the plate, most of my prints begin with engraving —it’s my go-to medium and thanks to my grandfather’s instruction, I try to treat it like pencil on paper. I might have something drawn out on the metal with grease pencil, but I mostly start engraving in order to work the thing out. So in a way the pieces, which take a more meandering path to resolve, generally have more techniques. Belladonna began as a very crisp engraving of my aunt—but the coldness of the engraved line didn’t seem to fit her so I etched and scraped repeatedly on the plate (for about a year) until I ended up with this sort of moody portrait of her. The zinc plate for “Fish Girl,” engraving, 8˝ x 10˝, 2009, Richie Lasansky “Bolivian Hat” actually began as a self- portrait etching in 1995—since then it’s work. I think it would be disingenuous for me to chart a neat trajectory between intent been through about a dozen or more and finished product—it’s usually much messier than that. radically different failed states. I engraved on it, used drypoint, and scraped the plate I have the feeling that often what captures someone’s interest in a print or drawing of almost completely a couple of times. It mine might not be the same as the answer to why or how I made it. My creative process was the plate I beat my head against when is personal, mostly visual, and really consists of a series of unrelated, non-linear, even I didn’t have anything else going on. Then accidental decisions and reactions. in 2010 I found my lost Bolivian hat (and I prefer to present myself visually—in other words I feel more comfortable making since I was born in Bolivia—I went with prints than I do talking about my prints or what they mean. What I can say is that I it). I etched two color plates and finished know each time I’m working on a print the experience is unique. Sometimes I start the black plate in about a day. on the plate or from a sketch, people I know or that I make up, but the direction it MW: This implies a romantic rather than takes always has a lot to do with the other random things that are going on around intellectual relationship with your work. me; conversations, moods, things I see or books I’m reading, and I couldn’t necessarily draw all the connections between these things and the marks I’m making. I know I’m RL: Yes, first of all I’m doing this because not unique in this approach, but while I think an erratic and unpredictable search for I truly enjoy it—I’m really happiest when a solution makes for a better print, a step-by-step description of it also doesn’t make I’m working on a plate or drawing. I’m the most compelling read. For example: one of my prints—”Sasha”—really started looking for what isn’t quantifiable so as a drawing of a friend’s nose, then for the next two years I had multiple and vastly there is no rubric for this. I think that different versions of this piece; some really fleshed out with darkly etched linear making the work has to be all heart but it’s backgrounds and a couple totally different versions of the face. I liked some of the important to be analytical, say, intellectual versions along the way but the one on the website is where I stopped...for now. If I ever when you are critiquing your own go back to this piece I’m sure I’ll end up changing it again, since that’s the fun part. My work. That’s where you pinpoint your grandfather used to say that printmaking was like fishing—you can’t predict what will tendencies or weaknesses and hopefully happen, you can’t force it, and you just have to be patient, flexible, and adaptive—plus push yourself on to the next level. This you have to know how to fish! So while I can’t or, more accurately, don’t want to put my analytical part of the process is very finger on exactly where my prints come from or what they are, I can say for sure that I private for me so I don’t have a handy like to print, I change my mind a lot, and mistakes are always a big part of it. sound bite which I use to describe my

Michelle Wilson is a printmaker, book artist, and papermaker who lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 The Dissent of Printmaking by Ralph Slatton

Our recent times have brought many new causes for artists to embrace. We have seen the world’s economic and political systems nearly collapse. We have also witnessed apocalyptic scenarios, like the Gulf oil spill, devastating Tsunami aftermaths, and the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima. We’ve added fresh new terms to our popular lexicon, phrases like Arab Spring, Wall Street versus Main Street, housing bubble, undocumented immigrants, Tea Partiers, Occupiers, Birthers, and Truthers. Strangely prophetic to the Mayan Calendar, old conventions are being challenged, making way for a new consciousness of social change. Those who have felt disenfranchised by their governments have risen in rebellion, wielding the strength of one voice.

“What a Golden Beak (They Want War!),” etching, 7 3/4˝ x 11 7/8˝, 1999, Sue Coe, courtesy Galerie St. Etienne, NY

On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor, Such upheavals have always given birth to visionaries, those set himself on fire in protest to oppressive treatment by the who felt the passion to expose the injustices perpetrated by Tunisian authorities. His death spurred mob protest throughout powerful entities in a predatory system. In Bruce Thayer’s the country, eventually deposing Tunisian President, Ben Ali. piece, “The Bully Market” (see back cover), we see the This began the Arab Spring, a domino effect of toppling regimes slogan, “Bulls make money; Bears make money; Pigs go to throughout the Middle East. The countries affected were Jordan, slaughter, “The Bully Market.” Thayer reveals the economic Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Kuwait, and Syria. market for its underbelly of aggression. It portrays a brutish type as the central focus, with cartoon-like narratives in the The later part of this decade also brought us the Global Financial surrounding space. Thayer states, “I like to lay bare some of the Crisis, considered by economists to be the worst since the Darwinian realities of society that we all participate in. We no great depression. It threatened a total meltdown of worldwide longer are hunter gatherers but we are all out there hunting and financial institutions, leading to bank bailouts, plummeting some of the Darwinian realities of society that we all participate stocks, evictions, unemployment, economic stagnation, and in. We no longer are hunter gatherers but we are all out there added trillions to the national debt. New slogans were chanted hunting and gathering money or goods.” Thayer works with the from the streets, such as “We are the 99 percent.” These printmaking processes of collagraph, drypoint on Plexiglas, and protestors, known as Occupiers, camped in public squares, found graphics. His work explores social issues, and uses word eventually spreading to more than 950 cities in 82 countries. play and figurative abstraction.

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 From its inception, printmaking has All the while, Londoners ignore been an art form of the people. Because her predicament, including the of their duplicative nature and their use horse-mounted clergyman, of inexpensive materials, prints were shown in the background. His the most affordable art for the masses. horse topples a stack of plates, Revolutionaries quickly latched on to this which further foreshadows medium to disseminate, organize, and what happens to Moll in the even propagandize huge populations. It succeeding prints. The series was an ideal tool to initiate a revolution. concludes with Moll, having Let us now look at several printmakers served in prison, now dying of who were early reformers of their times. venereal disease at the age of 23, a pronouncement on all women of William Hogarth (1697-1764) was a weak morals. skilled portrait painter, silversmith, and engraver. Hogarth worked during the Whenever we think of Rococo period, in 18th century London. printmakers who are known for their defiance to “Woman With Dead Child,” etching, 16.8˝ x 19.1˝, 1903, authority, I’m sure Kathe Kollwitz Francisco de Goya the winner of a battle as a tribute to the (1746–1828) comes to mind. victory. “The Disasters of War” had no Goya’s prints illustrated commissions and there were no moral the cruelty of the Spanish winners. Goya was one of the first artists government, and the atrocities to strip war of its dignity and romance. of the Inquisition. He also For this reason, some attribute Goya as denounced the ignorance of the very first modern artist. Given our superstition and social abuses. decades-old conflict in the Middle East, Some of Goya’s scenes depicted “The Disasters of War” is certainly a witchcraft, inhumane treatment pertinent piece for our times. of citizens, arrogant nobility, and corruption in the Catholic Up to this point we have dealt with artists church. Many of the themes who were attuned to the needs of the were masked with bizarre masses. Now, let’s look at another kind of “A Harlot’s Progress,” engraving, 15.5˝ x 12.5˝, 1732, William socially-driven visionary. Kathe Kollwitz Hogarth symbolism or animal imagery. (1867-1945), worked in Germany as a As a young boy, he lived for five years Goya is probably best known for the painter, sculptor, and printmaker dealing in a debtors’ lodge, which exposed him disturbing masterpiece, “The Disasters with issues of the human condition to the darker elements of street life, of War,” a series consisting of 82 prints, and suffering. She held one significant with its cruelty, prostitution, poverty, documenting atrocities during the difference from previous examples and hypocrisy. Hogarth’s images were Napoleonic invasions. This work was shown—she embraced the individual. a portent of our modern times, where innovative for its time, because it did not This was felt in the sensitivity and decadence, greed and corruption are now present war as had been done previously. expression of her drawings. Her work prominent issues in our daily news. Artworks were usually commissioned by focused on the grieving widow, the poor child, or the warm embrace of Hogarth was also known as a social family. She emphathized with the reformer, illustrating narratives with despair of others through her own moral consequences. From the first loss and pain. engraving in his series, “A Harlot’s Progress,” we are introduced to the Kollwitz survived the most young lady, Moll Hackabout. She tumultuous times of her century, just arrives in London from the both World Wars I and II. In country, with prospects of acquiring 1914, her son Peter was killed employment as a seamstress, in Flanders, and in 1942 she implied by the pin cushion and lost her grandson at the Russian scissors on her arm. Instead, she is front. When Hitler came to greeted, or more likely inspected, power, Kollwitz was classified as by the pox-scarred, Elizabeth a degenerate, losing her position Needham, reputed to be a procuress at the Academy. Her family was threatened with deportation to a of the village called Cheapside. Moll “Los Desatres de la Guerra: Grande Hazana! Con Muertos!,” succumbs to a life of prostitution. etching, 6.1˝ x 8˝, ca. 1810, Francisco Goya concentration camp.

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 During her life time, she created 275 from the general public, scenes that the prints, consisting of intaglio, woodcut, public wish to keep in the dark. Her and lithography. Her life’s work covered aesthetic designs are usually dark and the beauty of the working class, their foreboding, but always illuminating those struggles in revolution, and the horrors scenes which we are forced to view. of two World Wars. However, the works that will probably be most remembered In “What a Golden Beak,” Sue Coe are those that express the loss and love of borrows the title from one of Goya’s her son. works from the Los Caprichos. Coe uses her political cartooning skills to Even though there is still much to create a masterful anti-war image. The cover in a our brief history of social skeletal parts of the bird and bat are printmakers, let us now move on to the danced through the crowds, mimicking world of contemporary dissenters. We will the stick marionette, in the background. explore a new breed of activists within Considering the gold on its beak and our decade. the use of an unfurled scroll, we could possibly deduce that this represents the “Ninuno V,” photoengraving and collagraphy, Sue Coe was born in 1951 in 14.56˝ x 11.8˝, 1979, Imelda Cajipe Endaya Staffordshire, England, and studied at the Royal College of Art in London. resurgence of visual campaigns is She now lives and works in upstate New Favianna Rodriguez. At a very young York, where she pursues strong political age, she was schooled in East Oakland activism. The two main topics in her by Chicano political poster artists. work are anti-capitalism and anti- Rodriguez explains that her work cruelty to animals. She is masterful at speaks to grassroots struggles of the the art of caricature, creating powerful contemporary urban barrios, rebelling narratives that assault the eyes. She against racism, homophobia, sexism, has explored a wide variety of topics and corporate irresponsibility. Central including: animal rights, AIDS, slave to any movement of social change labor practices, war protests, apartheid, is the art of the poster. She explains, and cruelty in prisons. “protest posters flaunt their politics and court discussion. They can deepen Of all her causes, it is very likely that compassion and commitment, ignite history will remember her for her outrage, elicit laughter, and provoke animal rights images, giving a voice action. The power of the poster is to creatures who cannot speak for that it is produced in multiples, and themselves. She reveals the inhumane therefore can be easily distributed for ways animals are corralled and “Retrato 03, from Hand Drilled Portraits,” 36˝ x 50˝, all to see.” butchered for their meat and hide. She 2011, Miguel Aragon bears witness to scenes that are hidden Thousands of people die in drug- related violence every year in Mexico. American Eagle, Miguel Aragon is one artist who which bears similar addresses these tragic issues. Aragon characteristics. is an artist and printmaker currently Although I working in Austin, Texas, where he also is was unable to Assistant Instructor and M.F.A. candidate find definitive at the University of Texas. He was born information on and raised in Juarez, Mexico, which is this piece, I am considered to be the most dangerous reasonably certain town in the western hemisphere. It was it was in response hardest hit by Mexico’s drug trafficking to the pending Iraqi problems. Since 2008, it has seen over War, which began 2000 drug-related murders. three years after the piece was created. Aragon’s images come from photographs published by the media—both in digital Another artist who and in printed form—and depict very has contributed crude and raw forensic evidence. His significantly to impressions are devoid of ink or color, ’Reproduce and Revolt,” book cover, 2008, Co-editors, Josh MacPhee and the contemporary which also symbolizes the absence of Favianna Rodriguez

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 life. His matrices are created using an a name given to unlikely tool, a laser-cutter. Aragon the natives of explains his process. “Beginning with the the Philippines idea of erasure as language, I started to during Spanish create this body of work through the use Colonial times.� of a laser-cutter; this is a violent process She culled�� images since it uses, via a computer, an output of of Philippine a high-powered laser to create cardboard ancestors from matrices. The cardboard burns through Spanish colonial the process leaving a layer of soot on the archives. She surface allowing me to then transfer it to recomposed paper. By only using the burned pigment ancient “enemy as the source of mark making, I am documents” playing with the idea that those events such as the are burned into the consciousness of Dasmarinas the city’s inhabitants; leaving unwanted Codex (Boxer) memories though the continuous first- of 1590 and the “Celebrate Diversity,” relief, 30˝ x 30˝, 2011, Sean Starwars hand exposure to these massacres, shaping Doctrina Cristiana the way in which they continue to live of 1593 into contemporary graphic In 2003, Tom Huck organized a traveling their life just as the burned residue leaves compositions, a commentary on the exhibition of “Outlaw Printmaking,” a permanent imprint on the paper. There ironies of subjugation of the Indio. In which included the works of Sue Coe, is some variation in tones along with her Ninuno series, Spanish colonial Michael Krueger, Peregrine Honig, and different thickness of embossing once the engravings and American anthropological Bill Flick. cardboard matrices are printed onto paper, illustrations are converted into half- which alludes to a more physical degree tone portraits, at times treating them Living and working in St. Louis, Tom on the impact of the events, whether it is as erased shadows or white silhouettes. Huck explores the bizarre and perverse permanent or merely temporal.” Various scripts in Pidgin Spanish, culture of the American heartland. Latin, and Baybayan (native syllabary) Huck’s technique is reminiscent of Another type of social activism is to are randomly strewn, to suggest the master wood engravers like Albrecht reclaim the heritage and identities of various layers of cultural Dürer, with his intricate details and domination. However, symbolic compositions. However, Huck’s indigenous cultures that woodcut compositions are mammoth, were marginalized by two ranging up to the height of eight feet. colonial powers continue to survive and live their culture His narratives take a hard look at and traditions even today. Americana, showcasing its greed, gluttony, racism, and warfare. In his In recent times we’ve seen triptych, “The Transformation of a resurgence of a counter Baghead,” Huck asks the question, what culture of printmakers. extremes will people take to transform They were dissidents in themselves, to meet the norms of the the truest sense, and were American mainstream? In the first particularly known for their panel we see Brandy as the stereotypical biting humor and parody beauty queen, ceremoniously paraded of the establishment. One in a vegetable-themed festival. The such group of artists were center piece, “America’s Top Omelette,” assembled in a show in New shows a horrific surgical procedure. York’s Big Cat Gallery, in Panel 1: “The Transformation of Brandy Baghead,” Panel 2: Mad scientists give Brandy an extreme “America’s Top Omlette,” Panel 3: “Skating With the Scars,” 2000. Tony Fitzpatrick, makeover, which includes a frenzy tryptic, woodcut, 8˝ x 10˝, 2007, Tom Huck the owner of the Big Cat of prodding, probing, prying, and Press, called it “Outlaw stitching, with a disemboweled cat as her subjugated cultures. History is filled with Printmaking,” which referred to their primary organ donor. In the last panel, examples of conquering armies that have non-academic approach to printmaking. “Skating with the Scars,” Brandy’s is now pillaged native lands and have decimated Many of the artists of this group transformed as a mutated chicken and the cultural identity of peoples. Living attributed Richard Mock as their primary ice-skating queen, complete with beak and working in the Philippines, Imelda�� influence. Mock’s social and political and feathers and a bucket of K.F.C.’s Cajipe Endaya has become a modern- prints appeared in The New York Times “finger lickin’ good” chicken. day advocate of her ancestors, the Indio,�� op-ed pages in the ’80s and ’90s.

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 Sean Starwars was also one of the Outlaw Printmakers, and currently makes prints in Mississippi. He is drawn to the modern mythologies of “American advertising” and “cultural stereotypes,” creating pop/expressionistic fantasy worlds. As such, he gets his best ideas from cereal boxes, soda cans, and bumper stickers.

Starwars explains, “My primary concern is to create a strong visual, infused with a sense of satirical humor. I like to tell funny stories using funny pictures.” He describes woodcuts as what best suits his energy charged, caffeine induced, aggressive approach to image making. Although he tries to stay away from politically overt imagery, he also likes to poke irreverent fun with people’s personal agendas. In “Celebrate Diversity,” he originally wanted to make a woodcut of an Uzi but was left with surrounding empty space. He began drawing other guns of many shapes and sizes from different countries. He explained that cutting the words, “Celebrate Diversity,” into the Uzi was pretty much an afterthought. However, he leaves us with a very new message, one that plays with politically correct sensibilities.

Finally, I was asked to speak about my piece, O’Frabjous Day, which appeared in this year’s SAGA members show. I usually don’t consider myself a political artist, but this particular piece certainly has its political overtones. My imagery is heavily influenced by the richly animated movie, “Watership Down,” based on Richard Adams’ novel, in which animal hierarchy represent corruption of power in a social order. The title of my piece borrows from a phrase used in Lewis Carroll’s poem, “O’Frabjous Day,” intaglio, 24˝ x 18˝, 2011, Ralph Slatton “Jabberwocky.” The poem warns us about “jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” In my piece, we are confronted with snarling wolves and rather placid rabbits. We must ask the question whether the rabbits are in a symbiotic relationship or will they soon fulfill a more interior and digestive purpose. The larger question examines the consequences of a populace hopelessly dependent on its bigger brother, a centralized governmental, snarling beastie.

We have now come full-circle to the question that began our article. What is the role of the artist/printmaker, particularly in our volatile times? This can be best summed in the famous Tom Joad speech in the 1940’s film, from John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.” “I’ll be all around in the dark. I’ll be ever’-where—wherever you can look. Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and know supper’s ready. An’ when the people are eatin’ the stuff they raise, and livin’ in the houses they build—I’ll be there, too.

President’s Letter continued from page 2 to sign editions! In keeping with our gathering momentum, the pencils announced our upcoming Centennial with the phrase “1915 – 2015, The SAGA continues….

During March 2013, we will again participate in SGCI to be held in Milwaukee. We’ll be showing our Collector Prints, with an unprecedented donation of six new Collector Prints, dubbed “The Wisconsin Suite” by members Doug Bosley, Jayne Reid Jackson, Harold Rotzoll, Ron Ruble, Arthur Thrall and Larry Welo. Spearheaded by Ron Ruble, these members are the core group coordinating SAGA’s gala 80th Member Exhibition during the conference!

Our 80th Member Exhibition will be at the Delind Gallery, a premiere Milwaukee gallery. During the conference, SAGA’s 80th Member Exhibit will be on the Friday night gallery crawl with a continually running bus circuit. 1700 printmakers and print lovers will see our member’s show, front and center. At our show, SAGA will especially recognize esteemed Wisconsin members, Warrington Colescott and Frances Myers. We’re honoring Wisconsin member, Arthur Thrall with an Award of Acheivement. Arthur has been a member of SAGA since 1953. Bravo! Finally, I’m pleased to announce that SAGA’s Centennial Exhibition will be during New York City’s prestigious Print Week in November 2015 at the Arts Students League. I’d like to thank SAGA’s hard working council: Vice Presidents Michael Hew Wing and Ellen Nathan Singer, Recording Secretary Barbara Minton, Corresponding Secretary Marion Lerner-Levine, and Bill Behnken, Amir Hariri, Masaaki Noda, Tomomi Ono, Merle Perlmutter, Florence Putterman, Steve Walker, and our new council members, Susan Altman, Jon Irving, and Richie Lasansky. Our latest SAGAzine, spearheaded and edited by our tenacious Barbara Minton attests to SAGA’s gathering energy. It is a compelling and thought provoking issue and truly her labor of love. My gratitude for Barbara’s fortitude and foresight abound. 10 SAGAzine, Winter 2013 The Correct Way To Mat a Print

by Steven Walker

In my role as mat cutter at The Old Print Shop in New York City, I’ve learned ways to mak life easier when presenting work for an exhibiiton. Here is the standard way to mat a print.

There are many aspects to mat cutting- than the top. (In some cases, the sides planned, always measure with the zero -many fine points and troubleshooting may look better if they are wider than the line of�� the ruler aligned with the same techniques. In this Do-It-Yourself article, top). When measured this way, the mat edge of the board for both measurements. I will stick to basics and assume the print will almost always require a custom-size The marks may be drawn as small is being matted, and probably framed, frame, which will be more expensive than crosses at the corners of the window, or for an exhibition. I will note in passing a standard size. Therefore,�� depending�� on as lines running across the entire board, the worst matting techniques I found how much you are willing to spend, you depending on the type of mat cutter you preparing the SAGA show, techniques need to decide whether to use a standard will be�� using. likely perpetrate��d�� by frame shops, which or a custom frame. can damage the print. You will need to have access to a mat For a standard frame, choose a mat size cutter. My basic cutter for small prints The first thing to consider is the color of that is sufficiently generous so the print consists of a device that holds a blade at the mat, which should complement and won’t look cramped. For a medium-size a 45-degree angle and fits into a track show off the work as well as possible. I frame (say, 16˝ x 20˝), I would not go on a 24-inch ruler. The�� device pivots generally like warm mat board for warm below 2-1/2˝ for the narrowest margin. downward to enable the cut. This type printing paper, and white for white. To Try visualizing the shape of your print on of cutter currently costs about $40. The me, the mat shouldn’t be warmer than the backgrounds of various standard sizes to next grade of cutter is 36˝�� in length with paper, but we’re all artists here so I leave help in making this decision. the track mounted on a durable plank of this judgment up to you. particle board. Thesecost �� approximately You will probably start with a standard $100. Each devic��e�� has its own peculiarities If you are matting your work for a 32˝ x 40˝ sheet of mat board. The backing and idiosyncrasies. It’��s a good idea to relatively short exhibition, a non-archival board can be mat board or foam core, cut practice on scraps until you are used to mat may be acceptable. However, even to the same size. The total size of the mat it.�� On some cutting�� devices,�� you start the in this case, I would recommend an includes the print’s image size, a small cut at the top and pull the blade toward archival mat. Archival or museum board border between the image and the mat, you; on others you start at the bottom is homogenous and solid throughout, so it and then the margins of the mat. The and push away from you. When making appears solid at the bevel cut as opposed amount of space between image and mat cuts, I start the blade slightly beyond the to the less attractive veneer-over-core look window is a personal choice--as small as corner of my pencil mark, and cut slightly of cheaper mat board. A non-archival 1/8th-inch for smaller prints to an inch or past the end corner mark. This accounts� mat looks fine when new, but over time, more for larger prints. Keep the top and for the depth and angle of the blade as the inner core, exposed at the bevel cut, side borders around the image or plate it goes through the board. It is better turns yellow, orange, or brown, which mark consistent. The bottom sometimes to err on the side of coming up slightly looks ugly and eventually begins to requires a larger border in order not to short rather than overshooting the corner discolor the print. For this reason, non- cut off the title or signature. (leaving a visible cut). If the corner is not archival matting should never be used quite cut, don’��t�� panic: gently remove the for permanent framing or storage. A Once you determine the size of the mat, board from the apparatus, slip a blade final warning: the term “acid-free” is not measure and cut�� it from the larger sheet in the angled slot of the cut, and make necessarily synonymous with “archival.” with a mat knife, using scrap underneath strokes toward the corner until the cut is to absorb the blade. Cut the backing complete. The next consideration is whether the board to the same size from mat board or print is to be framed. Here the matter of foam core. With a new blade, it should be possible cost comes into play. The optimal way to to make each cut by penetrating the display a print in terms aesthetically is to Measure the mat window carefully using board completely and executing the cut measure the mat based on the image. The a light pencil. You will need to make two in one stroke (always�� have�� a mat scrap classic way to do this is to have a wider sets of tick marks to ensure lines at right underneath for the protruding blade). bottom margin below the print than the angles with the board. Since the mat may However, for 4-ply board, I find it is margin above, and side margins narrower be slightly off from the exact size you generally safer to make two or even three

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 11 cuts for each edge; i.e., the first cut goes gummed tape, I use a small dish with a with a folded and damp piece of tape near about halfway through the board and folded-up paper twoel soaked with water. either bottom corner. Anything more the next stroke completes the cut. This For the first step, wet the bottomhalf of a than this is unnecessar��y�� and will make reduces the chance of the blade snagging piece of tape and slip it under the pront at re-opening the mat difficult. At this point, on fibers and causing tears or the print is ready to be framed. “��pilling”�� on the front side of the mat. To do these�� multiple�� cuts, Here I will mention that a less- make sure the blade stays exactly is-more approach is better and in the slot of the first cut. safer for the print. The print should be able to breathe (expand Sometimes problems do occur, as and contract depending on when fibers bunch up andpill. �� This�� temperature�� and humidity). Notice can be treated by gently stroking that by hinging the print from the the pilled area top, it is allowed to hang freely with a blade until the fibers are under the mat. If corners are used, flush with the rest of the cut. If the use only three (two bottom, one problem is such that it cannot be top). The print should not need fixed this way (e.g., a tear or gash), securing at the bottom, and should I find that I can often save the not be glued or dry-mounted board if I measure and cut a new in any way. The print should window about 1/16- to 1/8-inch not be subjected to bondage or larger than the original one. (This strangulation. technique is (This technique is not for the faint of heart, however; so if The mat should be made in such you��’re�� in doubt, don’��t�� d��o�� it.) a way that it can be reopened easily without destroying the There are two types of archival mat or endangering the print. linen tape: self adhesive or At the SAGA show, I discovered gummed. The self adhesive kind techniques that must be avoided. has a strip of paper to peel off. Some prints were adhered not Its advantage is that it does not to the backing board, but to the require water. I tend to think that reverse side of the front board. gummed tape is more reliable long This violates the art-handling term. For prints on very delicate principle of minimizing risk. If papers, gummed paper tape is the print is attached to the front more desirable because it’s�� less�� board, and the board is lifted, likely to cause buckling near the the print is unexpectedly lifted tape. Another solution may be with it, risking damage to the plastic photo corners or handmade print. The worst discovery I made paper corners. Corners have the was the use of double-sided tape advantage of not altering the print in any or near one top corner. Position the tape around the outside of the print to join way. However, unless�� prints�� are�� on a face up so that the wet half adheres to the the top and bottom boards. While this very light paper like�� rice paper,�� gravity back of the print and the top half extends may be effective from the point of view may eventually pull�� them away from the above. Two tapes at or near the corners of getting the job done, it is short-sighted corners since�� the weight is borne at the of the print are sufficient for most prints; and dangerous. The result is that the mat bottom. for large or heavy prints, a thir��d�� or even cannot be re-opened without a risk of fourth may be safer. wrenching and tearing. The mat will be To mount the print in the mat: destroyed upon opening, and the rough 1. Open the mat and place the print 3. For each piece of tape, wet another handling needed to get the boards apart face up on the backing board. Bring the piece completely and apply face down puts the print in peril. window board down and maneuver the over the first piece. This second piece print until it is centered and parallel with should be large enough to cover the The goal of matting a print correctly is the window. Once this is achieved, place visible part of the first piece. The tape to protect and display the print, often for a paperweight on the print to hold it in should not touch the front surface of the only a part of its life. position, and open the mat. print paper. As I put down each piece of tape, I use a clean paper towel to press the 2. The size of the tape can vary. I use tape down and blot any excess water. larger pieces for larger prints. For The mat can then be closed, and secured

12 SAGAzine, Winter 2013 Editor’s Note Barbara Minton Finally, a new SAGAzine--our way of communicating among SAGA printmakers with considerations of the events and people who have inspired and intrigued us. This issue contains two such articles along with Steve Walker’s clear, helpful advice for preparing prints for exhibition. Michelle Wilson interviewed Richie Lasansky, a relatively new SAGA member, for a provocative reflection on the influence of his famous grandfather, Mauricio Lasansky. Only a month after Richie and Michelle completed their resulting article, Mauricio Lasansky died. As managing editor of this ‘zine issue, I solicited an article about the protest print from several SAGA members whose work seemed relevant to this category. Ralph Slatton responded with his thought-provoking article covering a brief history of the protest print and a discussion of contemporary printmakers who carry on the tradition. It was a satisfaction to produce this issue. Council members Steve Walker, Richie Lasansky, Marion Lerner-Levine, and Merle Perlmutter helped tremendously—proofreading the text, discussing the content, and searching for images. President Shelley Thorstensen responded quickly whenever I asked—providing ideas and advice and adjusting the images. My son Jeff McCord adjusted and confirmed the files before I sent them to the printer. We have plans for a major edition of the ‘zine to celebrate our 2015 centennial, and we welcome ideas for articles from all SAGA members. If you have a proposal for an article to present, please email it to the SAGA office at [email protected], attention Barbara Minton. In Memorium Several widely respected printmakers have died since we last published this journal. SAGA members are grateful for their inspiration and dedication to the art of printmaking. Carolyn Autry Arts in Lacoste, Provence, France, which provided an opportunity to Printmaker, educator, and SAGA expand her artistic content. At this member Carolyn Autry died on time her prints were being exhibited December, 12, 2011, her 71st in national and international group birthday. Recently returning shows in exhibitions in Europe and from a trip abroad, visiting Asia. museums with her husband Returning to the U.S., Carolyn and Peter Elloian, she was preparing her husband restored a house in to finish an etching as well as to Perrysburg, Ohio, providing her with care for her garden before winter a spacious studio and a large garden. came. Increasingly recognized Her printmaking flourished in this for her accomplishments new space. She was recognized in drawing, painting, and in the North American Women printmaking, Carolyn received Artists of the Twentieth Century many awards, and her work “Passe Lumineux” intaglio, Carolyn Autry for her laudable achievements as was included in national and an internationally known intaglio international exhibitions. Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, until her printmaker and respected academic. marriage in 1965 to Elloian, an artistic Born in Dubuque, Iowa, Carolyn grew coexistence lasting over 45 years. She and In 2001, after 36 years of teaching, up in several towns in the Mid-West: Elloian moved to Toledo, where Carolyn Carolyn retired from the University of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Columbus, became an instructor of art history and Toledo faculty. Shortly after, in 2002, Nebraska; and Grinnell, Iowa. Graduating appreciation at the Toledo Museum of she and her husband made artistic from the University of Iowa in 1963, Art School of Design. After the birth pilgrimages throughout Europe, the she was awarded an MFA in painting at of her daughter, Carolyn continued her Mediterranean, and the Balkan Peninsula. the university in 1965. For the period teaching responsibilities and her creative She fulfilled her desire for foreign travel, 1961 to 1964, she was awarded a Ford pursuits. She was awarded two Ohio experiencing art at the sources, yet always Foundation Grant and in 1962, received Arts Council grants for printmaking in returning to work at her studio. the Yale-Norfolk School of Art & Music 1979 and 1989. Granted leave of absence Fellowship. After finishing her MFA, she from the university in 1984 and 1987, taught studio and art history at Baldwin she accepted a residency at the School of

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 13 Will Barnet He went on to work in graphic arts for Raphaelites, surrealism, and Edward the Depression-era Works Progress Hopper’s stark romanticism led to his Administration’s Federal Art Project. paintings of flattened, precisely contoured World-renowned painter-printmaker Will images of women waiting. Barnet died on November 13, 2012. Only Barnet had his first solo exhibition at the days before, on October 26th, the long- Eighth Street Playhouse in Manhattan in In 2003 Mr. Barnet returned to time SAGA member attended our annual 1935. His interest in modernist formal abstraction--bold shapes, vivid color, and dinner at the National Arts Club. Barnet innovations gradually led to colorful, dynamic compositions. Working well into produced subtly colored prints and more abstract paintings, and by the end of his 90s, he was honored in 2010 with an paintings that ranged from a simplified the 1940s, his work had become entirely exhibition, “Will Barnet and Art Students realism to abstract, visionary symbolism. abstract. He joined a group known as League,” at the Phyllis Harriman Mason the Indian Space Painters, who derived Gallery in Manhattan. The Montclair Born on May 25, 1911, in Beverly, forms from both Native American art Art Museum in NJ exhibited a selection Massachusetts, Barnet became interested and modern European painting to create of paintings in honor of his centennial in art as a child and, by age 12, had a geometrically complex abstractions. year. His work was shown in many solo studio in his parents’ basement. He and group shows in the U.S. and abroad, attended the School of the Museum of Barnet began teaching at the Art Students including six of the Whitney Museum’s Fine Arts in Boston, and in 1931, went League in 1936, and continued until 1980. annual exhibitions. The subject of several to New York City to study at the Art In addition to the League, he taught at museum retrospectives, “Will Barnet Students League. He worked briefly under the Cooper Union, at Yale, and at the at 100,” was presented at the National Stuart Davis and was influenced by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Academy Museum in 2011. President Surrealist painter Arshile Gorky. among other schools. Obama awarded him a National Medal of the Arts in a White House ceremony Starting out as a social realist printmaker, In the early 1960s, influenced by in 2011. he responded to the struggles of ordinary early Renaissance painting, Japanese people during the Depression. Four printmaking, and Pop Art, Barnet years after joining the Art Students returned to representational painting. League, he became their official printer. Later, influences from the Pre-

Antonio Frasconi he exhibited prints on terror-stricken peasants affected by the Vietnam War. America’s foremost practitioner of the He related his illustrations of the poems woodcut print, Antonio Frasconi died at of Herman Melville to the Ohio National his Connecticut home on January 8, 2013. Guard’s killing of students at Kent State Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into University in 1970. an Italian immigrant family on April 28, 1919, Frasconi grew up in Uraguay. He Frasconi’s work is in the collections of dropped out of school at 12 to become the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the a printer’s assistant, and, at the end of Museum of Modern Art, the New York World War II, came to the New York Public Library, the National Gallery of on a one year scholarship to the Art Art, and the Smithsonian. His woodcuts Students League. After having a show appeared in exhibitions around the world, at the Brooklyn Museum, he moved to and he illustrated more than 100 books, California to work as a security guard at several of which won awards. In 1963 he the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, later designed a stamp to honor the centennial having an exhibition there. He returned of the National Academy of Sciences. to New York to work on a book to be In 1968 he represented Uruguay at the published by the Museum of Modern Venice Biennale. Frasconi, a long-time “Einstein,” woodcut, 9 1/2˝ x 12 1/3˝, 1952, Art—Aesop’s Fables—which was honored Antonio Frasconi member of SAGA, taught printmaking by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. at the State University of New York at Ralph Slatton’s article, pages 6-10, on Purchase for many years. He died in Goya’s etchings and Paul Gauguin’s The Political Print). Early in his career, Norwalk, Connecticut, where he had his woodcuts were major influences on he made posters deriding Franco and home and his studio. Frasconi’s work. It was obvious he loved Hitler, and he worked for a decade on a the hands-on experience of working with series of woodcuts of people who were wood. His subjects repeatedly addressed tortured and killed under a rightist fascism, racism, war and poverty (see military dictatorship in Uruguay. Later,

14 SAGAzine, Winter 2013 Mauricio Lasansky (1980). His work is represented in every nomadic life before she settling in Los major museum in the US, as well as Angeles. She studied aircraft production internationally. A documentary video, The illustration, worked as a staff writer Mauricio Lasansky was born in Buenos Nazi Drawings, won Best Documentary for war bond programs, and began her Aires, Argentina, on October 12, 1914. and Best Director awards at the 2001 New paintings and prints reflecting her interest His father, an immigrant from Eastern York International Independent Film in science. Exploring optics and altered Europe, worked as a bank note engraver. Festival. Among his numerous awards perspective, her subjects dealt with the Lasansky attended the Superior School are five Guggenheim Fellowships and six interchange of time and space. of Fine Arts and began his printmaking honorary Doctorate of Art degrees. career, first making woodcuts and later Wayne became interested in lithography turning to etching. He had his first solo Lasansky concentrated on exploring in 1948. She went to France to create a exhibition in 1935 at Fort General Roca, the expressive possibilities of the fine series of lithographs, “Songs and Sonnets Argentina. art print, using multiple plates, a full by John Donne.” Frustrated with having color palette, and combining intaglio to go to Europe to fulfill her lithography In 1936, Lasansky received a Guggenheim techniques. To him, printmaking was projects, Wayne submitted a proposal Fellowship and traveled to New York. a creative rather than a reproductive to the Ford Foundation, seeking a grant At that time, the Works Progress process, and the subject of his art was as to revitalize lithography in the US. With Administration financed graphic arts important as technique. His images range the foundation’s support, she opened the workshops in which accepted artists could from figurative to abstract, his subjects Tamarind Lithography Workshop acting produce prints for exhibition in public playful to serious social commentary. as director. The workshop provided a buildings. When the WPA program was master printer and a technical director discontinued, many printmakers carried Lasansky died on April 2, 2012. He for the artists-printmakers in residence. on their work at other studios. Stanley amassed a body of work considered to be Wayne continued as director until William Hayter’s Atelier 17 had recently some of the most powerful and impressive 1970 when the workshop moved to the moved from Paris and re-established in contemporary art. His technical University of New Mexico. It continues in New York City. Lasansky was among contributions, his rich and intense images, today as the Tamarind Institute. the artists who experimented in the and his highly personal approach to intaglio printmaking process there, and printmaking are an inspiration to artists Wayne pursued political goals as well he became one of the first generations of as artistic. She created the “Joan of these printmakers to radically alter the Note the opening article of this SAGAzine Art” seminar, a professional training course of printmaking in America. The Essence Within: Michelle Wilson sessions dealing with the problems of women artists. She initiated a nationwide Lasansky joined the faculty of the interviews printmaker Richie Lasansky, Mauricio Lasansky’s grandson. campaign of tax proposals to benefit University of Iowa in 1946. Within two artists. In 1990, she attacked the threat of years he had renovated the printmaking censorship to the National Endowment department and established the first for the Arts. Master of Fine Arts printmaking program in the US. The University of Iowa became In the 1950s, she had solo exhibitions known as the capital of printmaking in June Wayne at major museums in Los Angeles, the US. Years later, the program Lasansky San Francisco, Chicago, New York, developed is still recognized as the Artist, lithographer, activist June Wayne, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. country’s primary one in printmaking. died in August, 2011. Born in 1918 in She received the 1952 Los Angeles The students he inspired went on to Chicago, she decided early in life to Times Woman of the Year Award for start departments around the US, and become an artist. Supporting herself with Achievement in Modern Art. Wayne Lasansky’s program serves as a model factory jobs, she established friendships received six honorary doctorates from for printmaking departments in many with University of Chicago art students respected universities, and received the universities. who encouraged her creative work. Her International Women’s Forum Award: first exhibition in 1935 at a Chicago “Women Who Made a Difference,” at The University of Iowa mounted two bookshop was followed by an invitation the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., retrospective exhibitions of Lasansky’s from the Mexican government to paint in 1991. The Bibliotheque Historique de prints, in 1957 and 1975. The Ford Mexico. In 1938, she was accepted by the la Ville de Paris collaborated with the Foundation sponsored a major exhibition U.S. Works Progress Administration, and Bibliotheque Nationale de France for a of his work in 1960. He has been the joined the Artist’s Union. She accepted major exhibition in 1999. subject of over 160 one-man shows, her first well-paying job as a jewelry After a long, distinguished career as one including the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico designer in the garment industry and of America’s finest artists, June Claire City (1969), the Whitney Museum of moved to New York City. American Art, New York (1971), and Wayne died on August 23, 2011. the Third International Biennial Mexico During World War II, she married USAF flight surgeon George Wayne and led a

SAGAzine, Winter 2013 15 Mailing label SAGA Society of American Graphic Artists 32 Union Square East. Room 1214. New York, NY 10003

“The Bully Market,” collagraph and intaglio, 30˝ x 22˝, 2011, Bruce Thayer (see page 6)

TheSociety of American Graphic Artists is a not-for-profit national organization of fine art printmakers. Over the years, many of America’s foremost artists have comprised our membership, enabling artists to show their work in New York City and around the world through important exhibitions with prestigious awards. Any dedicated fine art printmaker interested in becoming an active member of SAGA is invited to submit an application to the jury. See the SAGA website http://sagaprints.org/ for information.